Who Was Saint Rose of Lima?

Isabel Flores de Olivia was a rebel who lived within the rules. By any standards of Peru at the turn of the 17th century or even today, St. Rose (as she would later be known) was a countercultural figure. But even in her extremes, she operated in obedience to both her parents and her vocation.

At the age of 5, she began the practice of fasting up to three days a week. While at first pass this seems like it might be pretty standard for someone on the path to sainthood, I marvel at the practical implications it would have had in her family of 10 siblings. Did it go unnoticed around the dinner table? Did her parents worry about her appetite or try to persuade her to eat during these fasting times? Later, she also took to abstaining from meat, a dietary staple in Lima.  This too was a rebellious rejection of the standards of sustenance - she trusted God alone to sustain her and would find increasingly unconventional ways to live out that belief.

What would inspire such a young person to consistently seek sacrifice? 

The Holy Spirit can of course work in such ways, but circumstances can also play a part in cultivating one’s motivations. While I can only speculate on what this saint experienced in the late 1500’s, we do know that she grew up only about 50 years after the Spanish conquests of Peru. Her father was a revered member of the Spanish Imperial calvary, and her mother was a native of Lima with both Inca and Spanish blood. St. Rose was born into a devout and noble household - but both titles were more complex than they appeared. 

For starters, Christianity was newly established with the Spanish presence in her country, and as such many Christian beliefs and practices overlayed ancient spiritual understandings of native Peruvians. St. Rose stood staunchly for her faith even when those around her were still practicing idolatry and trying to maintain cultural customs that undercut her faith. Socially, her family’s nobility was put at risk when her father was caught up in mining investments in Peru, in which he lost much of the family’s wealth. This forced St. Rose to find ways to help support her family, which she did by learning and selling embroidery. She was not known to complain about these obligations toward her family and even took what extra she made and served the other poor of her community.

It was perhaps their firsthand knowledge of hard times that led to her parents refusing her wish to become a nun, insisting instead that she marry. Her beauty attracted many suitors, and was in fact the source of the name “Rose”. (As an infant, it was said that a servant saw her beautiful face turn into a rose, and the nickname became official when she took “Rose” as her Confirmation name.) This beauty was an unwanted element in her life. Rather than lean on it to procure a financially beneficial marriage, she rubbed pepper into her face and chopped her hair in an effort to be less attractive. 

St. Rose’s disdain for comfort was received with more criticism than commendation by her contemporaries. Though her parents still refused to let her join the convent, they did finally concede that she could enter the Third Order of Dominicans (a way for lay people to live out a Dominican calling) at age 20, as well as giving her a modest room in their garden. Though not in the way she desired, she was finally able to give the public vow of virginity she had long before privately given. 

St. Rose persisted in her acts of penitence. Beyond humbling her appearance and extreme fasting practices, she was known to devote time in front of the Blessed Sacrament daily and regularly sleep for only 2 hours at night, allowing her more time for prayer and meditation. In her waking hours outside of prayer, she was fully dedicated to serving the poor and the sick, as well as challenging the treatment of the native people by the Spanish government. She was also known to wear her own crown of thorns, not as a useless symbol but as an actual pain-inducing attempt to grow closer to Christ through suffering. There are stained-glass windows depicting another extreme example of her mortifications, as she once burned her hands purposefully to endure more suffering. 

At the age of 31, likely aided by sleep deprivation and nutritional deficiencies, she grew ill herself and recognized her last day when it was upon her. She prayed: “Lord, increase my sufferings, and with them increase your love in my heart.” 

Only about 50 years passed before Pope Clement X canonized St. Rose of Lima. On April 12, 1671, she became the first person in the Americas to be declared a saint.  

Often, the stories of saints leave me in awe. There is a degree of struggle, sacrifice, and suffering in the life of almost anyone who chooses to follow Christ completely. But St. Rose of Lima lived in such a heightened state of these traits, and did it with so much self-infliction, that it is almost difficult to find a way to emulate her path in a modern day world. Perhaps it’s helpful, in addition to looking at what she did in her life, to examine what she didn’t do.

St. Rose didn’t let her parents' unwillingness to let her join a convent prevent her from living out her calling. She didn’t let her lack of medical knowledge prevent her from reaching out to help the infirm. She didn’t let the opinions of others dissuade her from her spiritual practices. She didn’t wait for a particular order to give her a rule of life. She created the life she was called to within the rules presented to her.

St. Rose is the patron saint of embroiderers, gardeners, florists, those who suffer ridicule for their piety, and those who suffer family trials. But I believe she also lends an attentive ear to those of us struggling to shake off excuses. What reasons do we give for not fully living out our vocations? I can almost hear St. Rose listening to each one and the responding: “Do it anyway.” 

Let her challenge us. Let us lay before her what we are naming as our limitations, and ask her to intercede on our behalf for the grace to “do it anyway.” 

St. Rose of Lima, pray for us.